Gene Wolfe - The Land Across

After that my lady likes Italy or Greece, and I like the Greek islands plus maybe Sicily and Corsica. I do not know nearly as much about women as I would like to, but I have not sprung that one on her yet. I am going to wait for the right moment.

This is a lecture and you do not have to read it. I just want to say something about dictators and dictatorships.

Dictators get in when democracy sucks. The elected governments do a bad job, one after another. Or they are so crooked the elections no longer matter and nobody cares. Are dictators bad? Sure. But some are worse than others. Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot were about as bad as they come, but there have been a whole bunch of others. They were bad, too, but look at the governments they replaced and the governments that replaced them.

If you do not want a dictatorship here, vote. But be careful who you vote for, and be careful about who gets on that ballot. Democracy means rule by the people, and if the people will not do the job—well, somebody is going to step in and do it for them.

Spreading democracy is a really good idea and I am all for it. Just keep in mind that ruling is work. It means staying informed and making the tough choices. And if the people do not want to do the work of ruling, democracy will not work. It is a lot easier to shoot a dictator than it is to replace one with something better.

The Knight

The Wizard

On Blue’s Waters

In Green’s Jungles

Return to the Whorl

Shadow & Claw (comprising The Shadow of the Torturer and The Claw of the Conciliator )

Sword & Citadel (comprising The Sword of the Lictor and The Citadel of the Autarch)

Litany of the Long Sun (comprising Nightside of the Long Sun and Lake of the Long Sun)

Epiphany of the Long Sun (comprising Caldé of the Long Sun and Exodus from the Long Sun)

The Fifth Head of Cerberus

The Devil in a Forest

Peace

Free Live Free

The Urth of the New Sun

Latro in the Mist (comprising Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Arete)

Soldier of Sidon

There Are Doors

Castleview

Pandora by Holly Hollander

Pirate Freedom

An Evil Guest

The Sorcerer’s House

Home Fires

The Death of Doctor Island

Seven American Nights

Endangered Species

Storeys from the Old Hotel

Castle of Days

The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories

Strange Travelers

Innocents Aboard

Starwater Strains

Gene Wolfe has won the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement and many other awards. In 2007, he was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. In 2013, he received the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award. He lives in Barrington, Illinois.

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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

THE LAND ACROSS

Copyright © 2013 by Gene Wolfe

All rights reserved.

Cover photography by Stephen Carroll, David et Myrtille/Trevillion Images

A Tor Book

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

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Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Wolfe, Gene.

The land across / Gene Wolfe.—First Edition.

p. cm.

“A Tom Doherty Associates Book.”

ISBN 978-0-7653-3595-1 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-4668-2635-9 (e-book)

1. Travel writers—Fiction. 2. Corruption—Fiction. 3. Fantasy fiction. I. Title.

PS3573.O52L36 2013

813'.54—dc23

2013022126

e-ISBN 9781466826359

First Edition: November 2013